The Dharma Papers: Chap. 14 "Dancing in the Ghost Fields"

The first round of incoming artillery took out the tower. Chunks of stone and the blood and body parts of two monk guards, rained down upon the temple grounds. Around the perimeter of the temple, the attackers took up positon. The temple monks opened fire from their defensive positions along the walls. Their shots echoing into the night. Then the fire darts began. Streaking out from the forest line, the darts pummeled the temple wall. The darts contained a chemical that would interact with the chemcials in the human body and combust. Spontaneous combustion was everywhere.
Many monks would just drop to the ground and melt. Leaving nothing but ash. Others would throw themselves off the wall in a fiery plunge. Then the sprinkler tanks came. They would begin their death swirl. Cannons loaded with acid would spray the temple walls and grounds with a sweeping motion. The acid cut a wicked path. Several monks tried to retreat only to be caught in a splash of acid that burned off one or both arms or melted their faces. Meanwhile, within the temple there was chaos. Martin Malachi was barking orders over the intercom. "Seal all the rooms!" he yelled, "Get extra guards to the cryo lab and the vault. We know what they're here for!" Malachi called for Julian Carlson."I'm here, sir," Julian replied. His voice sounding calm. "Are you and Ms. Kwon in position?" "Yes, we are powering the field up now," Julian replied. "We can't hold them off for much longer!" Malachi said. "Understood," was all Julian said. In the "Field" room, Ji-Yeon Kwon was already strapped in the reclined chair. She felt the energy emanating from the field, as it focused through the stone behind her head. It made her somewhat light headed. Julian quickly came over and strapped himself into the chair next to her. "Now try to stay calm. I'll walk you through this. I'll help direct your concentration and help you pick your targets. You can watch me as well. Are you ready to dance?" Ji-Yeon nodded but she was nervous as hell. The field increased its intensity, as the electro-magnetic coils hummed with power. Quickly, Ji-Yeon and Julian found themselves surrounded by a ghostly fog."Don't be alarmed," Julian said, "that is just the FP field materializing and stabilizing the quantum space around us." "If you say so," Ji-Yeon remarked. The fog quickly disapated and Ji-Yeon felt a floating sensation. A type of out of body experience. "I feel funny," she said. "Thats normal," Said Julian, "your consciousness is begining to drift. Now look up at the ceiling. At the mirrors. Concentrate. Do you see?" Ji-Yeon looked up and saw chaos. Flame. Destruction. Death. A surrounding army advancing upon the temple. "Yes, I see," she said. "Now pick a target. Start small. See that group of soldiers advancing near the north wall?" Ji-Yeon turned her head and saw four men dressed in black battlesuits. "Yes," she said. "Now concentrate," Julian advised. "Visualize an energy wave. Pick a soldier. Then PUSH!!" Julian yelled. A sensation surrounded her at that moment. She felt a rush of psychic energy leave her mind. Then she saw the targeted soldier suddenly look her way. His face went blank. His eyes turned souless white. He tumbled over dead. His brain melted. Ji-Yeon tried again and again. Soldier after soldier collapsed. She looked over at Julian. He was concentrating himself. "I'm doing a death wave," he told Ji-Yeon, as he slowly swung his head from left to right. "If done correctly, you can melt up to a dozen brains in one swoop!" Out on the field, a dozen troops collapsed. "Now lets try a hard target," Julian said. "Pick an acid tank. Reach into the quantum void. Look for some primordial energy. Pull a microcosm of that energy and direct it to your target and release it." Julian instructed. Ji-Yeon concentrated. She focused. Intense energy and heat. She directed just a quark of energy, brought it back and around and directed it at a tank spraying the north wall. PUSH!!! The tank erupted into a primordial fireball. Its crew annihilated into nothingness. Suddenly, the temple above began to shake. The panicked voice of Malachi screamed, "Julian, you and Ms. Kwon have to get out! They've fired a Goo net over the entire temple. Its begining to dry and enter crush mode. We have ten minutes before this entire temple implodes!" Julian unstrapped himself from the chair."We have to go NOW!" Ji-Yeon wished she had another skill to get her out of there. Teleportation. To be continued: Next Chap. 15 "The Escape"